Are
Governments a Gang of Thieves?
Dr Zafar Altaf
A NEW ERA is about to emerge, though slowly, but it has already
shown massive maturity. With full knowledge of past governments,
it is to be seen what will emerge about the government which has
just quit. Already question marks are emerging about their decisions.
Basically
the previous governments of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif have been
called into question about the ways they amassed their assets.
Is amassing of assets by the out-going cabinet to be checked?
The
first question is about their governance. Was it exemplary? It
is always easy to play in a small group of authority. All that
it takes is to play the loyalty game. Once loyalty is established
and once it is firmly put in the mind of the “ruler”
that the person is a ‘sharif aadmi’ (honest
man), the rest is honky dory. Having made that assessment the
persons run riot.
The record of the out-going cabinet
is now being sorted out so that the new incumbents do not inherit
anything that is embarrassing. Regionally oppressed parties seeking
fairness for themselves have a lot of documentation of what has
been going on and how a certain coterie have amassed wealth. There
are commissions of offense as well as omissions but when it comes
to distortions there are any number of them that indicate much
more serious lapses of judgment.
And intentional guilt cannot be ruled
out. That Pakistan has been a case of serious mismanagement is
not far to see. But how do you explain the management of an economy
in which the IMF and the World Bank’s help has been sought
for the economic team and they try and influence the decisions
of the locally elected so as to ensure that the economic team
remains in authority. Selective judgments are bad in law.
The
incarceration of a former Minister of Railways by the accountability
court and yet others are let free for the same offense is a glaring
example of injustice and bad in equity. But that is minor compared
to the lies and the misuse of the state organs for the purpose
of self-aggrandizement. The bureaucracy that was put in place
did not believe in calling things as they actually are. The control
of the management of the country was controlled through these
nincompoops.
Morals in the case of Pakistan are
man-made and there is no debate as to how the laws are formulated.
In the absence of the legislative assembly laws are made. On the
9th of October important amendments were made to the constitution.
The advent of ordinances are such that even empty envelopes have
become secret documents of the government.
Normally
these ordinances are passed only when the National Assembly is
not in session and these have to be matters of serious and immediate
concern. That has not happened. There are over 150 ordinances
in the last year or so. The major ones are so serious that their
import will not be known since the outcomes can never be predicted.
Myopic vision has been with almost all our leaders. They acted
as masters and not servants. But the question of mental corruption
is a serious one.
The
ministers not elected but selected suffer from crossed lines and
some of them have been petty functionaries and they have not been
able to quite digest the authority that was provided to them by
a chance illegitimate happening. When Ministers use government
resources for settling their personal vendetta how does one react.
Is the taxpayer’s money to be squandered to satisfy the
hate of an individual? And if he has to go for some one how are
the litigants to be on an even keel? How do you provide a level
playing field or are some more important and equal than others.
These are vexing questions and require an answer for the body
politic is poisoned beyond recompense.
If we go by illegitimacy than illegitimate
governments have governed for a longer period than the legitimate
governments in Pakistan and that has caused this country to be
almost branded as a terrorist country. A hapless population is
held hostage by the few and when there is rule by the few the
many suffer. Public policy has become personal policy and that
is the order of the day. It is impossible to carry an argument
to its logical conclusion as the vested interests and the favorites
play the game differently.
Brandt
provides an excellent example of how legitimacy works. When the
scandal broke around one of his personal staff, he resigned and
went to the backwaters. Such committed people are difficult to
keep down for eminence is writ large on them. He bounced back
to become the Chairman of the ‘North-South’ debate,
a means for the development of the developing countries. Former
Prime Minister of England amongst others was a member of this
commission. The future of such people is never one of oblivion.
Their prominence is subject to their eminence and not the other
way round.
Will any of the present lot be part
of the eminent lot? If I start analyzing each one and what they
stand for and how they have become egoists on tax-payers money
we might be able to clear muddy waters. The legitimacy debate
is already on in the National Assembly. It will continue for people
there have suffered at the hands of the non-elected.
Imran Khan, the former skipper of
the national team, came up with scathing criticism. The stalwarts
were as committed as before. Democracy accepts the collective
wisdom of the masses and if it does not like that wisdom it changes
its representatives. The rule is simple and easy but it requires
that those that wield brutal powers realize that brutality is
fatal to the user at the end of the day. The game and the stakes
are too high. The ethics of it all is what it boils down to.
Pakistan’s
ethical leader lived for a very short period and the last year
was in fact one of ill health. The goondas took over
thereafter and these gangs have been raping the country at will.
Ethical values, what? There is no question of self-censorship
in the lot. Self-exculpatory statements are made. Useless in the
eyes of the law for every man is a saint on to himself. Crime
is contagious and if the government is involved in criminal actions
then the rest of the country will take upon itself the rule of
the powerful and seek ways and means to sort out the weak.
This has been happening in the extra-judicial
killings that have been going on. Those that are vocal in the
assembly need to be careful. The tolerance levels of the powerful
are very limited. The recent happening to the information secretary
of one political party is a case in point. The agencies have categorically
stated that they have not done it. And one would like to believe
them. Was it their henchmen that did it? Was it Bashi Khan, one
of such gangs? Ethically the abettor is as guilty but the conscience
in this part of the world has taken on funny rationalizations.
There is no such thing as due process.
Criminality of a state brings out the worst all round. The government
has been negotiating with those that have been kept in jail for
a long time. The present lot had better have themselves socially
and judicially x-rayed. A time will come when they cannot hide
behind skirts. Why negotiate and why with criminals? Where is
the moral aspect of this? One of them is in jail for six years.
Have they been kept through a process or without due process?
One
might argue on the basis of pragmatism and that such things are
necessary. If that be so then why shall there be any humane considerations?
And why should some people be looked after and become more powerful
despite limitations of mind? How does real betterment take place?
Betterment is always sought in an evolutionary manner through
the existing institutions. They never come through magic wands.
As I write this piece the news comes that the NRB chief’s
resignation has been accepted by his mentor. So much for courage
of one’s convictions. The tragedy is that convictions can
never come through dollars and neither through assets that have
been allowed through a process of self-allotment.
Why
democracy? It brings about self-restraint and substitutes external
restraint for the working of the self. And its maintenance is
far more difficult than its achievement. Democracy demands continuous
sacrifice and obedience to moral laws. Visit Faiz Ahmed Faiz and
see the underlying philosophy. The perfecting of the individual
is a continuous effort. And there is hope for the religious links
will ensure a submission not to local half-gods but to the Supreme
Authority. That is what Islam is all about – a humbleness
before one’s creator. Do not mess up this extraordinary
religion and make it different from what it is. We bow five times
and we bow so that we are humble in our lives. And that should
augur well. There is nothing to fear from these individuals for
they are committed to a philosophy and an authority that is unquestioned
in their world.
Who
will bring about a balance between pragmatism and humane actions
is yet to be seen. Any hasty action by the sword will only perpetuate
the obvious. Need I say more for I do not want to use cliches
but we have evidence of dictators and their ultimate ends? I would
not want that to happen for as a complex ridden minister [he had
been called all kinds of psychological names] said that he had
been wronged because he had elderly children and what will they
think of their father. By the same token every one has children.
He had been using the office of the minister to settle his personal
vendettas and today he stands before his mentor crying out. What
a character?
So
beware for you will get the same medicine that you have been dispensing.
All the king’s men are ‘sharafat’ personified.
The can of worms is about to open. How will the stink settle?
Who knows? The decency in men is what is required to be furthered.
The offices are offices of trust and do not indicate that you
are above the law. The intangibles all of a sudden become important.
The tangibles are what they are. But what do you do if the mainstream
is polluted? How can the side shoots be free of pollution? Ask
the great Sufi Shakeek who said this to Haroon the Great. "Every
kingdom eventually becomes subject to a few questions."
